Collaboration may generally be defined as the strategic and tactical sharing of information between partners for the purpose of developing a joint plan of action, and then working together to execute that plan of action. Businesses that employ basic methods of collaboration can reduce costs and increase worker efficiency. In terms of computing applications, there is a wide range of collaboration capabilities that offer different types of interaction options at varying levels of fidelity. Some of the well-known collaboration applications may include an email application, a groupware application, a messaging service application, a meeting support application and a team workspace application.
Electronic mail applications give users the ability to communicate by sending information or files back and forth electronically. Groupware applications provide databases that allow workers to store knowledge and information, making it available for sharing and future use. Messaging service applications enable users to communicate synchronously, one to one or many to many, without using the telephone or video conferencing applications. Team workspace applications provide virtual rooms that give users the ability, both synchronously and asynchronously, to share and store information.
Pressures on product development and providing solutions to problems mandate that people work smarter, faster, and better. The current collaboration capabilities only provide a patchwork solution to address point problems and therefore are viewed as only capable of providing a limited amount of value. Handoffs between processes also create bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Solutions to problems that require collaboration with parties that normally appear earlier in standard processes are not addressed by the implemented tools. In addition, people in organizations are filling multiple and distinct roles within the organization, which leads to cognitive dissonance and lost productivity as users attempt to “switch context”.
As such, a need exists for a dynamic collaborative assistant application that integrates collaborative services into business processes to enable partners to share related information